Singaporean Literature

Singaporean
Literature
SINGAPOREAN LITERATURE
• Singaporeans four main languages: English, Chinese,
Malay and Tamil.
• The literature of Singapore is viewed as a distinct body of

literature portraying various aspects of Singapore society
and forms a significant part of the culture of Singapore.
• Tan Swie Hian and Kuo Pao Kun are Singaporean writers
who have contributed works in more than one language.
Singaporean Poetry
• Singaporean literature in English started with the Straits-

born Chinese community in the colonial era;
• Singapore literature is published as early as the 1830s.
• The first notable Singaporean work of poetry in English is
possibly F.M.S.R., a pastiche of T. S. Eliot by Francis P.
Ng, published in London in 1935.
• This was followed by Wang Gungwu's Pulse in 1950.
New wave of Singapore writer
• Edwin Thumboo
• Arthur Yap
• Robert Yeo,
• Goh Poh Seng,
• Lee Tzu Pheng
• Chandran Nair.
There were varying levels of activity in succeeding decades, with poets in the
late 1980s and early 1990s including Simon Tay, Leong Liew Geok, Koh
Buck Song, Heng Siok Tian and Ho Poh Fun. In the late 1990s, poetry in
English in Singapore found a new momentum with a whole new
generation of poets born around or after 1965 now actively writing and
publishing, not only in Singapore but also internationally. Since the late-
1990s, local small presses such as Firstfruits and Ethos Books have been
actively promoting the works of this new wave of poets. Some of the more
notable include Boey Kim Cheng, Yong Shu Hoong, Alvin Pang, Cyril
Wong, Felix Cheong and Alfian bin Sa'at (also a playwright). The poetry of
this younger generation is often politically aware, transnational and
cosmopolitan, yet frequently presents their intensely focused, self-
questioning and highly individualised perspectives of Singaporean life,
society and culture. Some poets have been labeled Confessional for their
personalised writing, often dealing with intimate issues such as sexuality.
“ A Letter to
Lee Choon Seng”
By
Khoo Seok Wan
Singaporean Drama
Drama in English found expression in Goh Poh Seng, who was also a
notable poet and novelist
Robert Yeo, author of 6 plays, and in Kuo Pao Kun, who also wrote in
Chinese, sometimes translating his works into English.
Kuo Pao Kun was the artistic director of The Substation for many years.
Some of his plays, like
The Coffin is Too Big for the Hole (1984)
Lao Jiu (1990).
Stella Kon gained international fame with her now-famous play Emily of
Emerald Hill: a monologue. About an ageing Peranakan matriarch, it
has been produced in Scotland, Malaysia and Australia. The sole
character has been played by men as well as women.
Stella Kon gained international fame with her now-famous play Emily of
Emerald Hill: a monologue. About an ageing Peranakan matriarch, it
has been produced in Scotland, Malaysia and Australia.
The sole character has been played by men as well as women.
Singaporean Fiction
Fiction writing in English did not start in earnest until after

independence.
Goh Poh Seng remains a pioneer in writing novels well before

many of the later generation, with titles like
• If We Dream Too Long (1972)
• A Dance of Moths (1995).
Catherine Lim has been Singapore's most widely read author,

• Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore (1978)
• Lightning God and Other Stories (1980).
Lim's themes of Asian male chauvinistic gender-dominance

mark her as a distant cousin to Asian-American writers such
as Amy Tan.
• The Bondmaid (1998)
• Following the Wrong God Home (2001)
Han May is the pseudonym of Joan Hon who is better known for her
non-fiction books. Her science-fiction romance Star Sapphire (1985)
won a High Commendation Award from the Book Development
Council of Singapore in 1986, Relatively Speaking
Rex Shelley began publishing in the early 1990s. A Eurasian, his first
novel The Shrimp People (1991)
The book won a National Book Prize. His three other novels,
• People of the Pear Tree (1993)
• Island in the Centre (1995)
• River of Roses (1998)
He has won the S.E.A. Write Award in 2007.
Haresh Sharma is a playwright who has written more than fifty

plays that have been staged all over the world, I
In May 2010, his highly acclaimed play
Those Who Can't, Teach was published in book form by the
independent publisher Epigram Books.
Children Literature
Children's literature in Singapore has gained momentum in recent years

due to increased interest in the genre generated by the First Time
Writers and Illustrators Initiative which discovered acclaimed writers
such as
• Adeline Foo The Diary of Amos Lee
• Jin Pyn The Elephant and the Tree
• Emily Lim Prince Bear and Pauper Bear.
List of Singaporean writers:
Aaron Lee, poet and lawyer

Grace Chia, poet and novelist
Don Bosco, writer and publisher of children fiction books
Alfian bin Sa'at, playwright, poet and fiction writer
Gopal Baratham, neurosurgeon and writer
Boey Kim Cheng, poet
Colin Cheong, poet and novelist
Felix Cheong, poet
Michael Chiang, playwright
Goh Poh Seng, poet and novelist
Philip Jeyaretnam, novelist and lawyer

Koh Buck Song, poet
Russell Lee, mysterious author of popular True Singapore Ghost
Stories series
Lee Tzu Pheng, academic and poet
Liang Wern Fook, Chinese writer and songwriter
Catherine Lim, novelist
Su-Chen Christine Lim, novelist
Shirley Lim, poet and critic
Chandran Nair, poet and artist
Alvin Pang, poet and editor

Wena Poon, author based in the United States
Villayil Raman Gopala Pillai, Malayalam novelist
Darren Shiau, poet, novelist, environmentalist and lawyer
Rex Shelley, novelist
Robert Yeo, playwright and poet
Huzir Sulaiman, playwright
Hwee Hwee Tan, novelist
Colin Tan, poet
Toh Hsien Min, poet
Thank You !! 
GOD BLESS US ALL !!!!



Singaporean Literature

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Singaporean

• The literature of Singapore is viewed as a distinct body of

• Singaporean literature in English started with the Straits-

New wave of Singapore writer

Fiction writing in English did not start in earnest until after

Goh Poh Seng remains a pioneer in writing novels well before

Catherine Lim has been Singapore's most widely read author,

Lim's themes of Asian male chauvinistic gender-dominance

Haresh Sharma is a playwright who has written more than fifty

Children's literature in Singapore has gained momentum in recent years

List of Singaporean writers:

Aaron Lee, poet and lawyer

Philip Jeyaretnam, novelist and lawyer

Alvin Pang, poet and editor

GOD BLESS US ALL !!!!

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